1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to motor boats, and, in particular, to a template that can be attached to a transom of a boat to facilitate cleaning or painting of a gimbal housing which is mounted to the transom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Boats that are kept in the water for an extended period of time are subjected to a great deal of wear and tear due to the corrosive effects of the water and due to the growth of algae and barnacles on the submerged surfaces of the boat. Since this oxidation and marine growth must be removed to keep the boats in good condition, boat owners periodically remove their boats from the water to clean and repair them. During the course of this refurbishing, the gimbal housing is often cleaned and repainted after the outdrive has been removed therefrom. The cleaning of the gimbal housing usually comprises sandblasting or treating the housing with chemicals to remove rust, barnacles, or any other irregularities on the surface thereof.
However, when cleaning or repainting the gimbal housing, care must be taken to avoid damaging the transom of the boat. This damage is typically caused by splashing or spilling paint or other chemicals on the transom, or by accidentally sandblasting the transom along with the gimbal housing. In the past, to protect the transom from damage, boat mechanics spent a great deal of time and energy covering the transom near the gimbal housing with tape and/or paper or other masking materials. However, this covering process is inefficient, wasteful, and does not adequately protect the transom from paint overspray.
This process is inefficient and wasteful because it takes a great deal of time and energy to properly mask and cover the transom. The gimbal housing has an intricate shape that has a number of corners and straight and curved edges, and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to completely cover the transom along these edges with a single piece of tape. Thus, many small pieces of tape must be affixed to the transom along the curved edges of the gimbal housing to properly shield the transom. This is a very long, tedious process which requires the mechanic to spend a great deal of time and energy on a single boat. Thus, the number of boats the mechanic can work on in a single day is significantly reduced.
This process is still further inefficient and wasteful because clean-up takes a very long time. Each and every short piece of tape which had been attached to the transom must be removed, and this process takes even longer than it did to apply the tape to the transom. Thus, the amount of time spent by the mechanic on the gimbal housing is still further increased.
Finally, this process does not adequately protect the transom because the mechanic, in his haste to complete the job, often incompletely covers the transom Further, since the mechanic is aware of the long clean-up time involved, he often tries to use a single piece of tape around the arcuate edges of the gimbal housing. Thus, only the immediately adjacent portion of the transom is protected. This process will leave many portions of the transom uncovered and will cause the transom to be cleaned and painted along with the gimbal housing. Since this causes a sloppy, unprofessional job that is unacceptable to the boat owner, the mechanic will have to spend even more time to clean and repair the transom after he has worked on the gimbal housing.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus to efficiently and adequately shield a transom of a boat from damage when the gimbal housing is cleaned or painted so that the cleaning or painting of the gimbal housing is facilitated and the transom is protected.